The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-03-26
THE SITE OF 0UIATENON.
Judge Beckwith Does Not Seem to Have Au-
thor ively Settled the Question.

Professor Hett as TO the location OF Fort
Ouiatanon. which appear in your issue of the
10Th. The article in the Charlottesville Jour-
nal. republished by you the 18th inst, was
very erroneous in several respects, and correc-
tions Of its errors we're made by me in the La
fayet,e Call of March 3 and March II; also, in
the Charlottesville Journal Of March 90. Judge
Beckwith corrects several of the same errors, but
as to the principal point the location of the
French post of O1atanon, he falls into worse
than the article he seeks to cor
rect The Ouatanon fort mentioned in the
memoir Of 1718, which is quoted so largely by
Judge Beckwth, and which. by the way, will be
found in full in the New York Colonial Docu-
rnents. VOL 9, PIP. SS5-892. also partially quoted
in billions edition Of 1859, p. 4Ol, was an Indian
fort and not French post. In this fact lies the
origin Of most of the confusion on the subject.
Judge Beckwith apparently understands the dis
tinction, but he says they were probably on the
same high hill, and there he makes a bad guess.
for there is not jot of evidence that the French
post was a hill He is right, beyond ques.
ton, in locating the fort the north side of the
Wabash, but he has placed it too far down the
stream. The Indian town of Ouiatenon, be it
remembered. was an entirely distinct place, sit
mated on the south side of the Wabash, stretch
ing along the margin of Wea plain, and shifting
its location from time to time little up or down
| the stream, as all Indian towns do.
To ascertain the location Of the post we mus:
60 to the contemporary records. for modern
authorities have this little stocksde fort strung
all along the Wabash on both sides OF the
stream, from Terre Haute to Logansport
Thomas Hutchirs. who is quoted with approval
by Judge Beckwitb, is the most trustworthy
| authority. He was stationed in the Illinois and
Wabash countries during the British occupation.
being then captain In the Sixteth Regiment OF
regular infantry, and was subsequently eeog
rapher to the United States. On his map of l778
which was tho standard authority for many
years, Post Ouiatanon is located on the north
side of the Wabash short distance above the
| '.Riviere de BoisrouRe.h But what was the
Boisrouge or Redwood river9 The first stream
above it on the north side is "Riviere de Thope
canos," which is Enthusiastically the Tippecanoe
The first stream below it on the north side
is marked AUX Pins" and the second one
'.Riviere de Plus" which are respectively Lit
tie Pine creek and Big Pine creek. On the
southern side Of the Wabash, above Aux Pins
and below the Bosrouge is marked an Indian
village, which is the Ouiatanon town. 1t Hutch
ms is correct, Fort Ouiatanon was not on Black
Rock, for that is only short distance above Lit
tie Pine creek, and there is no stream in the in
termedate space Every map prior to 1900,
several maps of later date, and several very clea
authorities support Hutchins. will note few
| of them:
L.
| Post Ouiatanon is located on the north side OF
| the Wabash just above the mouth of the Bots
| rouge. The first stream below it on the north
| side is ''Aux Pins and the second is r. de
| Pins" There are features of this map
which show that it was not copied from Hutch
ms.
| 2 On the map Of Brion de la Tour published
in 1884 and said to have been used at the treaty
of Versailles in manuscript, the Ouatanon vii
lage is located properly on the south side of the
| Wabash, and the French post is on the north
| side of the Wabash, little further up stream.
g. On the map Of D'Anville (1772), ir which
| the Wabash bears more to the south than it
should. the great Ouiatanon village is put about
| latitude 39o 80, and the French post about lati-
| tude 400 3V.
T. On the map of A. Arrowsmith (London,
| 1904 the French post is on the north side of the
| Wabash, east of the mouth of Redwood creek"
| which is the first stream below the Tippecanoe
/ and the first stream above Little Pine creek, on
| the north side of the Wabash. On this map
| Little Kickapoo town" is marked a short dis
| lance northwest of the post and the south
| side of the Wabash nearly down to the mouth
| of Little Pine creek, is marked 'Weautenau vii.
| lage."
s. On the map of Joseph Bouchette (1Sl5) the
| French post is located on the north side Of the
| Wabash. just east OF the mouth of Redwood
creek, which is the first stream on the north side
| below the mouth of the Tippecanoe
| From these maps it is evident that Post
| Ouiatanon was on the north side OF the Wa
bash. above the Indian town of Ouiatanon; that
| rouge; that this stream emptied into the Wa
bash above Little Pine creek and below the
| Tippecanoe. There are only two streams that
| could possible answer these requirements. One
/ is Burnett's creek, which emptes about six
| miles below the TppecaDoe by the river, and
| the other is Indian creek which empties about
| eighteen miles below the Tippecanoe. Which
I was it! The question is nconclusively answered.
by an itinerary of 1.-THE road from Detroit to tha
Illinois by way of the forts Mamie. Ouiat:anon
and St. Vincent. with some remarks copy Of
which is before me. The original. which was
prepared for the use OF the British officers, is
preserved in the Canadian archives, and 10
| dated IVA by Mr.. Brymner, the archiviet
| After giving the distances down the Wabash to
the river Trippeeans on the right" the timer
airy proceeds: "To Ouiattanon fort eighteen
| miles This fort Is on the right about seventy
yards from the river. The Ouattauon nation Of
| Indians is the opposite side, and the Kicca-
| poosies round the forth both villages
about 600 men able to bear arms"
This bars Burnetts creek, and also disposes of
| Black ROCK, which ia about thirty miles below
the mouth of the TippecanOe river. 1t points
directly to Indian creek the Boisrouge, and
all the authorities of any value harmonic on
that stream. There some other points
| worthy of consideration Post Ouiatanon was
Eotoriouslv the head of navigation for pirogues
| and large canoes in the days of the fur trade.
and all authorities explain this as due to the
rapids there. 1t is well known that there were
no rapids in the Wabash below Lafayette which
materially impeded navigation iu early days,
| anu steam poats commonly ascenueu the w doasu
| to that town in comparatively recent years II
| Ouiatanon fort was above Indian creek. this
concurrence of authority is accurate, but if it
was at Black Rock we should have
an error incapable of explanation. Again,
it is incredible that the post should
have been located on the remarkable cliff Of
Black Rock and no chronicler have alluded to its
situation Such thing is unheard of in West
err history. It's situation there would have been
very much like that of Fort ST. Louis on Stal we'd
Rock, as Judge Beckwith says but the early rec
ords are full of descriptions of Starved Rock, so
accurate that Mr. Parkman was enabled to
identify the place before he had fairly reached
it. On the whole il may be accented as certain